London-based AI infrastructure startup Nscale has secured a monumental $2 billion in a Series C funding round, achieving a valuation of $14.6 billion and cementing its status as a European decacorn. The round, described as the largest in European history, was led by financial giants Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, with significant participation from chipmaker Nvidia, Dell, Lenovo, Nokia, and investment firms including Citadel, Jane Street, Linden Advisors, Point72, and Astra Capital Management.
The $2 billion total includes a $433 million pre-Series C SAFE note from October 2024. This latest funding follows a $1.1 billion Series B round in September 2024 led by Norwegian industrial conglomerate Aker ASA. In a separate financing move, Nscale also raised $1.4 billion in debt last month through a delayed draw term loan, uniquely backed by the company's physical GPU assets. This brings the company's total recent capital raise to over $3.4 billion.
The capital injection will accelerate Nscale's vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform expansion across Europe, North America, and Asia. The company's business model spans from securing low-cost renewable energy and constructing data centers to developing the orchestration software needed to manage vast GPU clusters for AI training and inference.
Concurrently, Nscale announced a major governance coup, appointing former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg and former UK Deputy Prime Minister (now Meta's President of Global Affairs) Nick Clegg to its board of directors. Former Yahoo President Susan Decker also joins the board. These appointments are seen as strategic moves to bolster operational scaling expertise and navigate complex international regulatory landscapes as the company eyes an initial public offering. CEO Josh Payne confirmed to the New York Times that Nscale might seek to go public "as early as this year" to generate further capital.
At the core of Nscale's strategy is the "Stargate Norway" project, a flagship initiative aiming to operate 100,000 Nvidia GPUs in Norway by the end of 2026. The project leverages Norway's abundant, low-cost hydroelectric and wind power. OpenAI has been secured as an initial anchor tenant for Stargate. Nscale and Aker have agreed that their joint venture managing the project will now be fully managed by Nscale to strengthen execution.
The company has also secured expansive partnerships with major technology firms. In October 2024, Nscale signed an expanded deal with Microsoft expected to generate around $14 billion in business, involving approximately 200,000 Nvidia GPUs across data centers in Europe and the United States, with Dell providing hardware integration.
